There were three sorts of stones referred to in the Bible that were of significance\u2014 a cornerstone, which in antiquity was not some showy thing at the corner of a building with the name of donors on it, or the founding date of the building. A second sort was \u2018the head of the corner\u2019 which was an L shaped stone which joined togerther two walls at the top, keeping them together and solid at the top.\u00a0 Finally there were keystones in arches like in the picture below. Now the question is\u2014 which of these three are referred to in which texts in the Bible?<\/p>\n
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Obviously, the keystone in the arch is the one at the top in the middle that holds the two sides of the arch in balance and in place.\u00a0 In Ephes. 2.20 we hear of Christ being the \u1f00\u03ba\u03c1\u03bf\u03b3\u03c9\u03bd\u03b9\u03b1\u03af\u03bf\u03c5, but what does this word mean, which occurs only once in the whole NT?\u00a0 Tbe word literally means extreme angle, or extreme corner perhaps.\u00a0 \u00a0The basis for this may be the LXX of Isaiah 28.16.\u00a0 In ancient Greek, outside the Bible the word simply does not show up, but by etymology it means an angular rock.\u00a0 Now the question about\u00a0 Ephes. 2.20 and Isaiah 28.16 is this\u2014should we take the reference to the foundation<\/em> in both of these texts as the clue to what it means, and assume it refers to some part of a foundation?\u00a0 \u00a0 The problem with this conclusion is that Christ is in the heavenlies in Ephesians, and he is ruling from above and holding the church together from above.\u00a0 A keystone would be a better image of his role, for he was not just a part of the church\u2019s foundation.\u00a0 Without Christ holding us to together the whole thing comes apart.\u00a0 In antiquity the most decorated and special stone was the keystone in an arch, as it had the most vital foundation, and while a cornerstone was a square or rectangular stone that was part of a foundation, the keystone was indeed an angular stone, like the etymology suggests. It was certainly not a perfect square or rectangle like a corner stone.<\/p>\n I must conclude then that the most likely meaning of the rare word \u1f00\u03ba\u03c1\u03bf\u03b3\u03c9\u03bd\u03b9\u03b1\u03af\u03bf\u03c5 (indeed a hapax legomena in both the LXX and in the NT and not to be found in ancient Greek literature)\u00a0 in Ephes. 2.20 is keystone, not least because that comports with the whole ethos, and emphasis on Christ being above, being at the right hand of the Father, ruling from above and holding all things together from heaven.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" There were three sorts of stones referred to in the Bible that were of significance\u2014 a cornerstone, which in antiquity was not some showy thing at the corner of a building with the name of donors on it, or the founding date of the building. A second sort was \u2018the head of the corner\u2019 which […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":91,"featured_media":71762,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[15623],"class_list":["post-71873","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-make-way-for-the-keystone"],"yoast_head":"\n